BAA website grounded by fog

BAA's website earlier today crashed and burned under the weight of anxious flyers attempting to get info on whether their flight had been cancelled due to fog.

The site now has a temporary landing page which says:

Important Message

21st December 2006 Last Updated: 11:40

BAA Our website is experiencing a high volume of traffic due to the adverse weather conditions and Christmas getaway and consequently is operating slower than we'd like. We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause and hope to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Our airports are experiencing disruption due to the dense and, in some places, freezing fog which is set to continue over the coming days. Passengers intending to fly in the next few days are strongly advised to check with their airlines on the status of their flight before departing for the airport. Flights are subject to delays and cancellations. The individual status of flights at our airports is:

Heathrow

British Airways has cancelled all domestic services to and from London Heathrow. A large number of European services have also been cancelled, including significant numbers of services to Paris and Brussels. Customers are urged to continually check for the latest news or contact British Airways on 0800 727 800 to see if their flight is still operating.

And so on. For the record, here's the current state of play at Gatwick:

Flights are subject to delays of up to 90 minutes. Nine British Airways domestic flights have been cancelled. Customers are urged to continually check for the latest news or contact British Airways on 0800 727 800 to see if their flight is still operating.

Yes, it's probably better to phone BA rather than hit the BAA website. ®

Bootnote

Thanks to David Cohen for the tip-off.